A fleshing tool is generally described as an instrument which is used to scrape or shave an animal pelt or hide free of fat, membrane, or other adherent tissue. The instrument or device used as a fleshing tool may be a powerless device such as a knife, or may be a power-driven device or machine.
The treatment of animal furs, hides, and skins to produce useful garments or covers is an ancient art in which the craft of fleshing has always been a necessary step.
Originally, and even today, one of the simple hand tools employed in fleshing is a form of fleshing knife, a blunt concave knife which is scraped across the fleshing surface of a pelt.
Advances with time brought on the development of more elaborate fleshing tools and machines, including large power-driven stationary machines into which large pelts or hides can be fed rapidly. Generally, the large stationary machines comprise a flat table supporting the hide and a cylindrical fleshing component.
Eventually, smaller, portable machines and semi-portable fleshing systems were developed, mostly for accommodating small pelts and hides, providing more complete control of the fleshing operation than could be obtained by use of a large stationary machine.
Several factors influence a choice of employing a small, portable fleshing tool rather than a large, stationary machine.
A small, hand-held fleshing tool permits much more accurate fleshing than could be obtained with a large machine. A small, portable device, such as the one I have invented, is particularly adaptable for fleshing small pelts which require utmost precision because of the many small folded areas within a small pelt. A stationary machine cannot efficiently clean the many small folds of a pelt.
One great disadvantage encountered with a stationary machine, particularly in the use of a stationary machine being used for fleshing large hides, is that the machine will flesh a flat hide to a rather precise thickness without regard for the fact that the hide will have variations in thickness of suitable hide material and unwanted adhering flesh. The treated hide may emerge from the machine having an even thickness, but portions may still include flesh.
When using a portable form of fleshing tool, the operator usually mounts a pelt inside out upon a sturdy, elongated mounting pole or cylinder and applies the portable fleshing tool to the fleshy surfaces by grasping a pair of longitudinally oriented handles in alignment with a cylindrical fleshing component and guides the fleshing component over the pelt. Again, as with the large, stationary fleshing machines, this type of portable fleshing tool operates by the applying of a rotating cylindrical fleshing component against the fleshy interior portion of a pelt. The portable cylindrical device thus involves applying a cylindrical operating component against a cylindrical, or somewhat cylindrical surface, and the large, stationary machine involves applying a cylindrical operating component against a planar surface. It is quite evident that with either type of fleshing tool, there is a limitation on the control of the kind and quality of the resulting surface and product. These two types of devices will result in applying a rather broad cutting area against a broad area of pelt, only except when the user of the fleshing tool will fold the pelt sharply to expose a smaller area of flesh than had been previously exposed.
The prior art discloses the cylindrical types of fleshing devices which I have discussed above, as well as one type of air-powered motor, of which there are many, which could be used in supplying actuating power to my fleshing tool, in addition to conventional electric motors. The prior art I have found includes:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,480,994, Alberti, Sept. 6, 1949 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,492,534, Porteous, Dec. 27, 1949 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,847,845, Frank et al. Aug. 19, 1958 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,309, Sappington May 15, 1979 PA0 661,164Fr, Massin July 22, 1929